Friday, January 9, 2015

If Monet had a French Poodle...

"A FRENCH Poodle in Monet's garden"  12" X 12"  


The Stat project this time was to make a quilt inspired by the artist Claude Monet. The size must be 12 " square, and the quilt made with an emphasis on textures. 
How would you approach this challenge? 
This is the 10th artist we've studied, see  list of STAT pictures here
I usually study technique, and try to interpret an aspect of their techniques but this time I wanted to capture his waterlily paintings with bridges, and focused on content. I also researched quotes and fell in like with his words.
I knew the components would be flowers, willows, a bridge and a poodle. I found a collection of monet inspired fabrics and the sheer hand-dyed I used for the sky. What I didn't know was that the sheer would bubble up when I pressed it to the fusible interfacing. The poodle was a crystal studded embroidery applique from Joann's. The bridge was ribbon sewn down with a straight stitch.

 Sometimes I don't want to over think, or over plan a piece, and I work quickly to keep the creativity flowing. This was one of those times. The ribbon curled a bit, and I didn't plan the placement but didn't want it centered as I wanted to see if some kind of perspective or surprise emotion emerged from working freely.
I free motion quilted the piece first with metallic threads, sometimes vertically, sometimes circular waterlily shaped.

As I told you in the first post (HERE or keep reading) I felted some roving to add flowers. That didn't work, so I deconstructed some yarn and piled up a colorful bit, and using mylar thread I zigzagged over the lumps to bring texture to the flowers.

You can't tell in the photo but the sky fabric is just so shimmery and sparkling as are the threads.



The willow branched hang loosely, free to move around.

The binding on sides was hand whipped to back. The top and bottom, I left extra fabric in place to pull to the back, turn under and whipstitch to backing.
I printed out some quotes onto prepared fabric and the BrushScript font. This became my label.




 I cut out this quote, "Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment" sewed ribbon around it, then appliqued it to the back of the quilt.

Speaking of backs, I do try to use somewhat pretty fabric on the backs of quilts. It goes against the grain to use up pretties on the back but this came out of the overfull scrap bin and the flowers soooo fit.

I hope you enjoyed the latest STAT quilt. We have several more to go. At the end I'll have 12 quilts.


Please continue reading for another post on how threads and fabrics were chosen and what they looked like before the choices were made.
Remember you can see at a few other STAT quilts from the link listed above or label on side ==>


When you make an original composition, it's all about decision making. From which fabrics establish a mood, to size of pieces, whether to border, what to include or not, how to achieve a component, how to quilt and bind it. Then embellishments. It's sometimes uncomfortable in the process but very rewarding to see something come from bits and pieces!
 I hope you spend some time today creating something from your heart.




27 comments:

Unknown said...

Yaratıcılığı ön planda tutarak ,kendini serbest bırakıp çalışmak çok güzel sonuçlar veriyor...
Sizin bu eserinizde bu net bir şekilde görünüyor ... Kutlarım !
Ben de renklerle oynayarak , teknikleri işime geldiği gibi kullanarak üretmeyi seviyorum...Saygılar...

Jasmine said...

It looks like Monet had a French poodle to me! Your interpretation is absolutely amazing.

LA Paylor said...

Google translates this as:
Creativity keeping in the forefront, giving very good results leave work himself free ...
Is your masterpiece in a way that seems so ... Congratulations!
I'm playing with color, using techniques to produce love my job as it comes ... Regards .

Anonymous said...

This may be my fav so far of this series. The bridge is great! We should go see the Monet exhibition together - it's here in Houston... :)
Diane

~Diana said...

Beautiful LeeAnn~and kind of fitting that it's "Paris" with all that's gone on this week~

Maria said...

Stunning! That pretty much sums it up.... The quilt turned out Amazing! The poodle added pizzazz and fun!!!!!
Congratulations on a job well done:-)

sonja said...

Monet, poodle, bridge, sky, water, florals,
all wonderful together !

Joanne said...

That is so gorgeous LeeAnna! Beautiful! So Monet!
Love it!
You really captured the pond life!
I'll be printing out this one!
And great fabric for the backing!
Take care,
Joanne

Linda Wulf Koenig said...

LeeAnna, this is incredible. I can't believe how much detail you included in such a small piece. Monet would love it!! And the texture...oh my goodness. Makes me just itch to start a new landscape.

Paulette said...

This is awesome in every detail! I would start naming what I love about this quilt, but it would simply be everything!

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

Oh my... This is stunning! It must be truly incredible in person with those gorgous shimmery threads. VERY well done!

Norma Schlager said...

You certainly have captured the Monet feeling and managed to get in all the texture, too. And the poodle prancing across the bridge is the perfect touch!

quiltedfabricart said...

You totally aced the challenge - I love this ! Thank you for sharing your process and you're right, it's better not to overthink, something we all tend to do. Just going for it worked here and you can always deconstruct if it doesn't work.
Well done :-)

Angie in SoCal said...

Awesome! Monet is one of my favorite painters. You have enhanced his work.
Thanks for sharing!

M-R Charbonneau said...

Beautiful! Such fabulous detail!

Kaja said...

Wow! I love this. Great colours, great details, great Monet vibe but with your own quirky (poodle-y) slant.

Heather Pregger said...

Fabulous! Thank you for sharing you process. I love to read about the thought/decisions behind the making of a piece.

Martha Ginn said...

I'll bet Monet wished he had a poodle, too. Very good depiction of his work, and you got the texture right on.

Jackie Bouchard said...

Oh my gosh! That is SO pretty and so whimsical! Love the poodle! Love the colors! Love the 3D aspect to it! Even love the pic in the prior post of the threads - such pretty colors. Love the quote on the back too. (Funny, my mom likes to make the backs of her quilts interesting. She even does a little piece work on the back. Sometimes I can't decide if I like the back better!)

Cathy Perlmutter said...

Just gorgeous! The bridge is mind-blowingly great! Ribbon, who'd a thunk?

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Soooo much I love about this quilt!!! THe poodle prancing across the bridge has such energy! Love the colors and textures! Awesome creative fun!!

Snowcatcher said...

Oh, my goodness, this is amazing! I loved reading about the entire process, too, especially the unplanned things that didn't turn out the way you thought but made powerful visual impact just the same. That poodle really makes the piece, but the quote fits you better than anyone else I know!

bichonpawz said...

This is absolutely gorgeous!!! I look forward to reading more about your creative explorations!! xo Jeanne

Muv said...

Happy New Year, LeeAnna!

This little quilt is gorgeous and delightful. It radiates joy.

Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks!

Love, Muv

AlidaP said...

Wonderful example of inspired creativity!! Thanks so much for sharing the process, what worked and what didn't for you! I love Monet and you represented his art in a beautiful way!!

Shannon said...

this is so fun! I love it. I actually think the wrinkles in the fused sky add to the texture of the piece and I love the colors and the yarn.

Cassandra said...

What a charming quilt! I am really enjoying the use of dimensional texture!